The Dandy Lion — Restaurant in Iowa City

I entered The Dandy Lion for the first time ever with a sense of guarded cynicism. Not, as one would assume per the cliche, because I was accompanied by my in-laws. They are in fact gracious folks and their presence is amiable and welcomed. My cynicism stemmed from the current state of breakfast diners; would I again be made to pay $15+ for two eggs, a couple slabs of bacon, a side of hash and a bottomless Folgers coffee?

Glancing through the menu, my diner-phobia was assuaged. Most dishes looked good but the special, so titled “Feu Follet (Pt. Deux)” caught my eye, and I couldn’t shake its unique appeal.

The arrival of the dish marked the confirmation of my decision. A creamy béchamel sauce with subtle saffron color sat pooled over flawlessly cooked buttery grits (not the jello-like grits often served in the midwest). Two immaculately poached eggs with runny golden yolks and firm whites laid together with a spatter of vibrant tangy relish. A steamy, circular honeyed cornbread muffin. A tweeze of microgreens. Thick battered cuisses de grenouilles sat buoyant on it all, throwing a peace sign as if protesting my impending feast.

It was the type of dish amateur cooks like myself dream of being able to master in our home kitchens. It was beautifully executed. A complimentary symphony of bold flavors and complexity that cannot be described, only tasted and appreciated.

To any who might try this special, I recommend an acid to balance the heartiness: a simple glass of oj would suffice.

As a visitor to Iowa City and prior resident of New Orleans, this meal was uncharacteristically impressionable, and I am gracious to the chef for conceiving such a dish and...

7/19/19

Everything was fine until we had to pay. I was with my spouse and when after he gave the waitress his card, she took it and after waiting a long time for his card to come back she returns saying “the card was declined, do you have another form of payment?” That’s weird, but okay and I gave her my card. After waiting a long time again, she comes back and says “this card was also declined, do you have any cash or...?” And we just looked at each other because both of us knew we had enough money in our accounts and we found it odd that both our cards would be declined since we had been making purchases earlier that day. So we begin to explain “we don’t have cash, do you think this may be a problem with your system? We can get cash, but...” We didn’t finish because the waitress gives us a mean look and drops the check in front of us on the table and says “okay, fine” and leaves. We were in shock that our concerns would be met with such passive aggressive anger. So, my spouse gets up and walks a few blocks to the atm where he checks his balance and withdraws money without issue and returns to pay. We found it so awful to be looked at and treated in such an accusatory way by the waitress when it clearly was neither of our faults nor responsibility for their technical difficulties. I found this especially alarming as a Latina woman to seemingly be accused a thief and to have her looks directed at me in this seemingly racist way as if expecting the Latina woman to be poor and unable to...

The restaurant was packed when I arrived a little after 9am on a Sunday morning. I was alone, so I was seated at the only empty barstool available, larger parties were on a wait-list. The lady working at the bar was very friendly and helpful. She greeted me quickly and had a big cup of coffee in front of me within a minute of being seated. I ordered the Denver Omelette and subbed in a biscuit for the toast. The hash browns were very bland, I don't think they added S&P during the cooking process at all, but after I seasoned them they were pretty good. The omelet was well cooked, but also not seasoned. There was more of the onion/pepper/ham mixture than egg, which I don't like - I left a small pile of veggies on the plate because I actually enjoy eating eggs but couldn't even taste the egg for the filling. So this is good if you like a stuffed omelette. Next is the biscuit, you should be aware that I'm a Southern Girl and I love a good biscuit. This one was very hard and crumbled into a mess when you gnawed off a bite. They served the biscuit with a big dish of butter which was great, but the jam was in a syrup pouring container so when you tried to get jam on the biscuit, only the sticky watery part of the jam came out of the container. A worker clearing the seat next to me saw me struggling and tried to help "pour" the jam out but it wouldn't work for her either. She took the container and left, but never came back so I didn't get jam...